Oranges and lemons or Basque tropical coast

1991/05/01 Aldazabal, Jokin Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Botanika
• Ekologia

It is a fashion that has entered into force last year: plant citrus. Are the plants merely ornamental or bear fruit? The answer is total: they bear great fruits, beautiful and sweet.

It is a fashion that has entered into force this year: plant citrus. Everyone has ordered orange and lemon plants this winter. Both in the nurseries of Bizkaia and in the large shops of Iparralde have been offered plants, some with grain. However, most of us are surprised to see something like this.

Are the plants merely ornamental or bear fruit? The answer is total: they bear great fruits, beautiful and sweet.

Both orange (Citrus aurantium) and lemon (Citrus limonum) are thorny tree specimens from the east, which is difficult to grow above five metres. In fact, being species found in the vicinity of the tropics, they need a certain heat and fear ice and jealousy. These plants can hardly stand more than four or five degrees Celsius under zero. In this case, a deep pruning will be done to recover.

However, on the coast of the Basque Country this condition can be respected and from there the maximum heat is required. Therefore, if they are placed near the coast and protected from the north wind, they can give and give very good fruits on the sundeck. Although no one is surprised, we can say that without fear that the lemons that we have caught in our country are dyed completely, without fear of bitterness, can also be eaten.

And this type of plants are not new in Euskal Herria. Long ago, the English ships came to the Basque coast to catch lemons and cross the sea without fear of the scurvy. It is said that from Hondarribia to Muskiz there were oranges and lemon trees on the entire Basque coast, although compared to the present they were small and bitter.

Today, thanks to the appropriate patterns and advanced vaccinations, oranges and lemons can be obtained immediately if the above requirements are met. In addition, the fruit of these plants is preserved perfectly in the tree itself for three or four months of wintering, that is, in the season more exempt of raw foods and vitamins. And, today, there are also forms that bear fruit throughout the year, called four seasons.

These plants are pleasant and fertile, and not only for the mouth: the flower dyes the surroundings with good smells and fill the eyes with the white flowers and the persistent green of the leaves, which does not lose leaves throughout the year. One of the most enthusiastic apologists of these plants, the famous frutero José Etxebarria de Gatika, affirms that it is an orange tree, due to the colors, the most voracious and abertzale tree of Euskal Herria, white flowers and red fruits!

Today, fruit trees are not too popular among us, but in Bizkaia they can be seen in several places loaded with fruit in winter. Some of the trees are solitary in each house from Mungialdea to Getxo along the coast. However, you can see large series. One especially in Bakio, planted and cared for by Feliziano Renteria.

These trees weigh many kilos and have no shame before any other place. They are of very nice size, as sweet as any other place to taste and also smells, perhaps because they do not need any type of phytosanitary treatment, more aromatic than those bought.

Although we have not mentioned it so far, on the Basque coast there are also mandarins or clementines, which are a special type of orange. They are as good as others, taking good care of them.

More than one will think that if you want to plant you have no proper place because you live in the street map. This can be said that, despite being too small, it can be planted in a large pot and in winter enter the interior of the house to avoid the cold being too intense. To make the test, luck to all!